Alexander Falconer Murison

Born in Aberdeenshire in 1847, Alexander Falconer Murison studied at the University of Aberdeen and began his working life as a schoolmaster before being called to the bar at the Middle Temple in 1881. He went on to build a distinguished academic career in law while also remaining active as a writer.

Murison is best known as Professor of Roman Law at University College London, where he served from 1883 until 1925, later also teaching jurisprudence and Roman-Dutch law. He was also connected with Oxford as Deputy Regius Professor of Civil Law. Sources describe him as a learned but wide-ranging author, someone who wrote for newspapers and journals on many topics beyond his formal legal specialty.

He died in 1934, and his long life was later reflected in an autobiography, Memoirs of 88 Years, edited by his sons after his death. For readers today, he stands out as a scholar from the late Victorian and Edwardian world whose interests reached well beyond the classroom.